The Cubs haven't swept a three-game series at Wrigley Field in almost two years, but they've got a chance to do it tonight.
As I noted in the recap to Wednesday night's win, the Cubs have not swept a three-game series at home since July 13-14-15, 2012, when they swept the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Since that sweep, the Cubs' home record is 59-86. The Cubs haven't had a winning home record since 2009 (46-34) and the last time they were even at .500 at home after the month of April was September 17, 2012, when they were 36-36 at home after this loss to the Pirates. They went 2-7 in their remaining home games that year to finish 38-43.
If the Cubs win tonight, not only do they complete a home sweep for the first time since that Arizona series, but they will be at .500 at home this year. They begin today 12-13 at Wrigley Field.
So let's do it. Go Cubs.
Cubs lineup:
Lake LF, Ruggiano CF, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Valbuena 3B, Schierholtz RF, Barney 2B, Whiteside C, Wood P
Junior Lake brings his .278 OBP to the leadoff spot as Emilio Bonifacio (.316 OBP) gets the night off.
Mets lineup:
E. Young Jr. CF, Granderson RF, Wright 3B, Campbell 1B, Brown LF, Flores 2B, Tejada SS, d'Arnaud C, deGrom P
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I'm starting to worry about Travis Wood, who had a horrific May (6.62 ERA, 1.735 WHIP in six starts). Maybe the new month will help. Current Mets are hitting .210 (13-for-62) against him with two home runs (Juan Lagares, Lucas Duda).
Jacob deGrom has made four major-league starts, all quality starts. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their roster (obviously), and you know what usually happens then. The most interesting thing about him is that the name on the back of his jersey has a lower-case "d." I didn't think they even made those.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin' Avenue.
For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.
You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.